In connection with surgery for a number of diseases in the gastro-intestinal tract, one of the consequences in many cases is that the patient is left with an abdominal stoma, such as a colostomy or an ileostomy in the abdominal wall for the discharge of visceral contents. The discharge of visceral contents cannot be regulated at will. For that purpose, the user will have to rely on an appliance to collect the material emerging from such opening in a bag, which is later emptied and/or discarded at a suitable time.
An ostomy appliance may be in the form of a two-piece appliance comprising a wafer and a collecting bag which may be coupled to and un-coupled from each other through a coupling. This means that the wafer does not need to be separated from the skin of the user as often as exchange of the collecting bag requires. The wafer only needs to be changed every third or fourth day depending on the user, whereas the collecting bag may be changed more than once per day.
An ostomy collecting bag typically comprises two layers of film material that is welded or glued along the edges of the bag.